The First Thing I'm Sure Of

Posted on Thu Jun 5th, 2025 @ 6:08pm by Bobby Drake & Hayden Davis

3,682 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Episode 6: X-Fernus Agenda
Location: X-Mansion
Timeline: December 31st, 1990

Bobby had no idea what he was doing. Of course that never stopped him before. Hayden couldn't leave campus—house rules, holiday curfew, Professor Xavier's zero-tolerance policy for sneaking out. So instead of complaining, Bobby did what any half-decent teenage mutant with a crush would do: he borrowed a mini lantern from Hank, packed the most romantic survival kit 1990 had to offer, and grabbed the keys to the rental car.

Inside his duffel was a red-and-white checked blanket, a Walkman with a painstakingly recorded New Year's Eve mixtape labeled "For Frosty – Press Play at 11:50." Topped off with a six-pack of Cherry Coke in glass bottles, a box of donuts, and a Polaroid camera with just enough film to burn through if the moment got good.

The mansion's windows glowed dimly against the snow, but most of the students were off with family or asleep watching grainy holiday reruns in the rec room. That meant the attic solarium—The Roost as he and Warren used to call it—was his for the night. Their old hideout, half dusty greenhouse and half forgotten lounge, had the best view of the property's Christmas lights and a near-perfect shot of the fireworks in town.

Perfect enough, anyway.

Bobby snuck in through the side, his breath echoing in the stillness of the hallway. When he reached Hayden's door, he hesitated just long enough to wish he'd thought of bringing flowers—or at least something less ridiculous than a mixtape with Whitney Houston, The Cure, and C+C Music Factory on it.

He knocked once, then said, "You busy, Frosty?" His crooked grin at the closed door was anything but doubtful. He knew she wasn't busy. If anything, she would be expecting him. "Because I've got a surprise. It involves snacks, a blanket fort in the attic, and one very confused Iceman who spent way too much time rewinding cassette tapes with a pencil just to impress you."

A knock on the door of her room would never have bothered her, but being followed up by Bobby's voice startled her. Then she smirked, knowing that if anybody could sneak into the girl's rooms side of Mansion, it'd be Bobby. He'd been here long before her and probably knew all of the secret passages and routes.

Still, she was expecting...something...for New Year's Eve and had dressed accordingly for a teenage date; sweet, relaxed, and a little dressed up in a subtle kind of way. She wore a soft, light blue knit sweater with a white tank-top underneath. A pair of black jeans adorned her hips with a pair cozy indoor slippers on her feet.

A delicate silver necklace with a trident charm hung around her neck. She wore light make-up with a touch of lip gloss. Her hair hung down in low-effort but cute waves.

That's what Bobby saw when she flung the door open and stood there, hands on her hips. "Sounds great, Slippy. Never had anyone make tape for me," she said with a wink. "Guess there's a first time for everything."

Bobby's ugly green Christmas sweater greeted her as loudly as his shit-eating grin. "Well, I'm glad I get to be your first," he quipped without thinking. When he realized how that might've sounded, he blushed a little and ignored the impulse to step back. "Um... we should go before somebody sees us!"

"Yeah," she said, stepping out and quietly closing the door behind her. His blush as well as his comment hadn't gone unnoticed, but now was not the time. "Let's get going."

There were a few entrances to the attic, one on each wing. Bobby hurried Hayden to the entrance nearest the girls' dormitory. There was an old-fashioned skeleton keyhole, but most long-term students knew that a little jiggle was enough to open it without the skeleton key. Feeling frivolous and mischievous like he had every other time sneaking up to the attic, Bobby led Hayden by the hand up the stairs and pulled out the mini lantern before the dim light of the hallway below was snuffed out as the door closed.

"Here we are," Bobby said. "This was my hideout back in the day. Always dreamed of sneaking a girl up here but never had the chance." He bit his lip and chuckled with a nervous side-eye to Hayden. "Uh, but you can't beat the view." He pointed past the crates, trunks, and boxes to the large solarium windows at the far end with a few cushions and a dusty old sofa. Christmas lights from the lawn shone through them, although a distant firework dominated the picturesque scene. "Mansion's best kept secret."

As Hayden absorbed the area and Bobby's words, she shook her head and slowly started walking through. "I can see why. It's so far away from everything else. I bet there's not one of the new class that's ever been up here." She stopped and turned to face Bobby, excitement on her face and in her voice. "So where do we set-up? Right in front of the windows so it's like a drive-in movie? Or near the old couch so nobody sees lights in the window?"

Bobby grinned and gave an exaggerated nod. "Why not both? We've got the whole place to ourselves, might as well go deluxe." He let go of her hand, turned to the old couch, and rubbed his palms together like a magician about to unveil a trick. "Step one: luxury seating. Step two: ice engineering."

With a quick flick of his fingers, a thin, glistening sheen of ice spread across the wooden floor beneath the feet of the couch. The effect was instant, allowing him to slide it with one hand like it was on wheels.

"Boom. Frosted mobility," he said proudly, guiding it carefully toward the windows. "All the comfort of a front-row seat, none of the manual labor."

The cushions gave a dusty little sigh as they settled into place. Outside, more fireworks bloomed in the distance—silent bursts of color over the mansion grounds. The Christmas lights below twinkled like constellations, casting faint reflections across the window panes.

Bobby turned toward Hayden with a lopsided smile. "All set. Drive-in comfort, secret tower vibe. Just missing one thing." He plucked a folded blanket from a nearby crate like he knew it had been there all along and gave it a shake before draping it across the couch with a flourish.

Then he offered her the seat with a dramatic bow. "Your New Year's throne awaits!"

Hayden raised an eyebrow at the bow, then gave a mock-curtsy in return. "Why thank you, Sir Slippy," she said with a smirk, stepping past him to inspect the couch like royalty appraising a gift. She flopped onto it with a dramatic sigh, kicking her feet up next to her. "Cozy and sneaky. I love it."

She glanced out at the glittering view, her tone softening. "Honestly, though? This is perfect. You really know how to set a scene." A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth as she looked over at him. "Would you and your snacks care to join me?"

Butterflies did a full gymnastics routine in Bobby's stomach. But instead of freezing up, he grinned and took a running hop over the back of the couch, landing beside her with an ease that betrayed the nerves buzzing under his skin.

"Don't mind if we do," he said, slinging the blanket over the both of them in one smooth motion. The soft weight of it settled across their laps like a quiet promise.

He leaned in just a bit closer, nudging his shoulder against hers. "I don't really get cold,” he added with a boyish shrug, "but I figured most girls do, so..." He let the thought trail off, but his smile finished the sentence.

Unzipping the little pack he'd slung over his shoulder, Bobby rummaged for a moment before triumphantly producing two old-fashioned glass bottles of Cherry Coke, their labels slightly scuffed from the ride. He gave each a twist, frosting over the glass necks with a subtle flick of his fingers until cold mist curled lazily from their mouths.

"Cheers," he said, tapping his bottle lightly to hers with a faint clink, twin trails of cold mist swirling in the air between them.

Outside the solarium, the fireworks exploded again—colorful blooms against a black velvet sky.

Hayden settled in under the blanket and shivered, not from the cold but more of a satisfied feeling. "Thanks for the Cherry Coke," she said, taking a sip. "They're really pretty, the fireworks I mean," she said. "But I don't imagine there were fireworks every time you came up here. Was this your getaway for some peace and quiet?"

"More like my secret passage in and out of the mansion," Bobby confessed with a guilty chuckle. "It was Warren's at first since he could fly, but once I managed my ice slide, it turned into our little secret. Turns out the Prof knew about it and just let us think we were getting over on him." He slowly stretched his arm around Hayden and delicately dropped it on her shoulders. "And I thought I was being so sneaky too."

"Seems like adults always figure us out," said Hayden. She watched as more fireworks lit up the sky. "But I kinda like that he let you believe it," she added, a soft smile tugging at her lips. "It means he trusted you enough to let you have your fun...even if you were being a total delinquent." She grinned as she leaned into his side just a little, the warmth of his arm surprisingly welcome in the cool attic air. "Guess that makes this our secret now too. The only difference is that I can't get in any way other than the stairs. But that's okay because it just means I have to be extra sneaky."

The shift of Hayden's body to lean into his side sent a thrill through Bobby that made his grin beam even brighter. "Well, you could always climb up and down the lattice," he said, playing it cool, "but it's three and a half stories each way." Turning his head away from the window, he gave Hayden a playful smirk. "You sound pretty confident in your sneakiness there, Frosty."

Hayden laughed and looked up at Bobby. "Oh I can be pretty sneaky...when no one's around. My parents would catch me all the time and I'd be grounded. But if no one saw me walk up the stairs and there was no one in the hall, then I could probably be pretty sneaky. So I guess I'm confident in it when there's no one around." She laughed a little more and added, "But it would be my luck that the door would stick when I tried to get back out."

"Oh, trust me, that exact thing happened to me once," Bobby said with a chipmunk chuckle. "Back when I was like 15, I snuck out after lights out to skate around the lake—just needed to clear my head, you know? Coming back in, I gave the window here a jiggle like always and it wouldn't budge for nuthin'! Stuck tighter than Warren's speedo on Spring Break." He grinned at the memory, shaking his head. “I must've stood there for a good twenty minutes, whisper-cursing the door and praying the Professor wouldn't pop inside my head and ask what I was doing. Eventually, I had to ice-slide down the gutter and sneak in through the kitchen window. Left a trail of slush all the way to the dorms.” Shaking his head, he added, "Sometimes if not for bad luck, I feel like I wouldn't get any all."

"Oh gosh, that does not sound like fun at all," Hayden replied. "I guess I'd probably be stuck climbing down the lattice. Maybe I should try to learn how to use my crowd control water cannons for descent in case I were to fall. I'd take bruises and hairlines as opposed to a compound fracture any day." She shrugged off the idea and turned back to Bobby.

"I don't know, I think you got pretty lucky when you ran into me building that snowman on the lawn that one day."

For half a second, Bobby couldn't help but blush at connecting the words "got pretty lucky" with running into Hayden. He blinked hard and cleared his head with a hard shake. Had she noticed? Maybe not. Play it cool, Bobby.

"So far, so good," he managed to reply over his bamboozlement. "I'll let you know how it turns out." Was that a line from a movie? Bobby didn't even care. Anything to keep his cheeks from reddening. "Uh... about the controlled descent thing. The Prof thought your abilities might be similar to mine, just in reverse. I bet if you practiced, you could create a jetted current or something in midair and surf the sky."

His blushing finally started subsiding as his infatuation shifted into admiration. There were only a few people Bobby had helped train and Hayden was one of them, back before they had ever become close. She wasn't just Water Girl in his eyes but a full force of nature. "If you ever want to boot up the Danger Room sometime, let me know. We can drill, really hit it hard with some experimenting and see... what... you... can do..."

And it was back. Bobby trailed off as his perfectly innocent offer piggybacked on his earlier accidental innuendo. Unable to hide it this time, Bobby bit his bottom lip. "So how about them Yankees?" he asked, nervously laughing and cringing at himself.

Hayden turned and looked up at Bobby, ready to agree to some training in the Danger Room. Then she noticed him blushing and shook her head. "Yeah, how about them Yankees?" A slight rosiness crept up her cheeks as she realized what he'd trailed off saying and why he was blushing. "Bobby Drake! You goober!" she exclaimed, the rosiness turning into a bright red. Hayden teasingly nudged him as she was still leaning against him. "Something like that ought not to happen in the Danger Room anyway."

Hayden pulled her arm from under the blanket, grabbing Bobby's hand that was resting on her shoulder. She hoped that she didn't have to say anything, the gesture speaking for itself. She wanted him to stay. "I mean, I suppose that's something we could probably talk about sometime down the road. You know, after we figure out what we have going on here, with us."

"Yeah... uh, would it help if I said I didn't mean that?" Bobby scratched a nonexistent itch on the back of his neck. "Look, so playing it cool is only screwing me up. I, uh, I meant what I said before, back in the ice cream shop." Red cheeks galore, but Bobby swallowed the lump in his throat and continued. "About... my lack of... experience. I talk a big game but I've never gone through with it."

Not really wanting to relive a moment of embarrassment in the middle of another embarrassing moment, Bobby tried to move forward. "Just... I'm not in a hurry. Waiting can be good because I wanna do it right."

Realizing that could express incompetence as much as it did sincerity, Bobby quickly elaborated. "I mean I know how to do it! I'd do a good job! What I meant was..." What kind of thing was that to say? Bobby really did sound like a goober. "... we have a great thing going here and I don't want to spoil it. No pressure at all, okay? I... I like how comfortable I am with you." He chuckled at the absurdity of the claim, what with how nervous he was acting. "Maybe it doesn't seem like it, but I've never talked to anyone the way I've talked to you. Usually when I start fumbling, I just shut up or bail." Finally looking into her eyes, Bobby said, "But you make me feel like I can fumble my way through and it will turn out okay."

Hayden let out a breath that she didn't even realize she had been holding. "Well, we're both on the same page then. I don't want that to become the only thing between us and I'm in no hurry whatsoever. So let's just enjoy being us, being comfortable." She looked him in the eyes, "We can fumble through this together. I'm sure we'll laugh along the way, elbow each other, and maybe spew milk from our noses at some point. But it'll turn out okay and we can talk more about what we have here."

Now it was Bobby's turn to visibly sigh with relief. So many people were so eager to jump into physicality. The fact that Hayden didn't seem offended, defensive, or slighted took a weight off his chest, allowing him to relax and let go of the awkward embarrassment he'd felt so intensely just a moment ago.

"In the mean time," she said, looking back out at the fireworks, "what kind of snacks did you bring?"

"Oh yeah!" Reaching for the bag, Bobby pulled out one treat after other. "I got donuts, I got Pringles, I got licorice, I got Reese's Pieces, just like from E.T.!" He held them all up at once, a smorgasbord of sugary and savory delights, before opening the licorice. "I'll...be...right...here..." he said in an alien voice as he offered Hayden a strand as if it was an elongated, glowing finger.

Hayden took the licorice with a giggle and a similar reply. "Thank...you...Bobby," she said in a horrible imitation of the alien voice from the movie. Whether Bobby had intended it or not, the line from the movie was not lost on Hayden. The alien had pointed at the little boy's heart when he said it. She smiled and took a small bite before putting it on her lap, reaching for the can of Pringles. She opened the can, removed two of the chips, and put them together in her lips like a duck's bill. "Quack, quack!" That was all the duck noises she could get out before she laughed and watched the two chips fly into Bobby's face. Hayden immediately gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.

"What the duck?!" Bobby exclaimed in mock confusion, but he couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. He hadn't fooled around like this in ages, and by now someone would've been telling him to shut up or grow up. Instead they were egging each other on.

Reaching into the donut box, Bobby held one up and pretended to shout with an angry look on his face, though failed miserably. "Do you know what this is, Private Joker? Drop and give me 25!"

Hayden hadn't seen the movie, but she'd heard that quote before, among others, in school. She laughed, "Okay, you win the movie reference game...for now. The boys at school would quote that movie a lot. Never saw it myself."

She looked outside at the fireworks again. "So what's the story behind your hideout up here? What was this place used for?"

"Well, we treated it like a fort in winter," Bobby began to explain, "but Warren was more into chasing girls, so it kinda just turned into our secret way in and out of the mansion without getting caught." He bit his lip and grinned before sharing the next part. "Aaaaaand... I kinda always fantasized about sneaking a girl up here. I mean I asked Lorna once but she said it was gross." His bashful vulnerability gave way to a sigh of relief. Sharing himself with Hayden became easier the more he did it. "First the Empire State Building, now the Roost here in the attic... it's like you're checking off a list and making all my dreams come true."

Hayden grinned, "Well I don't know about all that. But it's been fun. Lots of fun." She paused to take another drink and then looked up at Bobby. "So, what do we have here? Us, I mean. Are we like, boyfriend and girlfriend? You brought me up to the Roost after all and apparently I'm checking off a list." She added that last bit with a smirk and a wink. "I'm sure you've got 'pretty blonde girlfriend' somewhere on that list." Hayden couldn't help but giggle a little. "Sorry."

Bobby chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck as he leaned against her. "Blondes and green-haired girls... yeah, you definitely clocked my type." His grin softened, turning more thoughtful. "But honestly?" He glanced at her, eyes sincere. "You blow the list out of the water."

Turning more serious, his voice dropped a little. "Everything I thought I wanted... funny, beautiful, smart... somebody who gets me... it all barely scratches the surface when it comes to you. You're not just some dream girl, Hayden. You're the real thing."

There was a pause. Fireworks popped again outside, painting fleeting glimmers of red and gold across her face.

"And I'd very much like to be your boyfriend," he said, his voice quiet but steady. "If you dig it."

Hayden tilted her head slightly, her eyes softening as the reflection of fireworks danced in them. She didn't say anything for a few seconds. All she did was smile, like she was trying to freeze the moment in time. Or at least trying to keep it a little longer.

Then she leaned in just enough to bump her shoulder lightly against him. "Yeah, I dig it," she said, her voice softer and more serious. “I’d like that, Bobby. I’d like that a lot. And I'd very much like to be your girlfriend." There was no mistaking the shimmer of emotion behind her words. After a breath, she reached over and laced her fingers with his.

The next round of fireworks lit up the sky. And this time, it felt like they were just for them.

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